[Coalhands]

Just a quick one. Currently on my first reread (almost done with Reaper's Gale). Loving the series more than ever!

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•  bottle.jpg (97.19K)
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[Dolmen 2.0]

Whoop! Rereads rock! I've read Reapers three times. It was waay better the second time. Third time was just to be sure.

That is a good sketch, i like the style of it. Is this the first sketch you've done of the series?

I ask because you did Bottle, one of the few characters we never really see sketched out.

Interesting start! Do you plan to sketch out the rest of the squad?

This post has been edited by Dolmen 2.0: 28 March 2017 - 12:26 AM

[Aptorian]

Man, I thought the tittle said "booty doodle" and was expecting something a lot more saucy.

[Coalhands]

@Dolmen 2.0: Yeah absolutely! My recollection of the series, especially the later books, is quite fuzzy, so a reread is really helping me piece everything together. I've also been following along with the Tor reread as I go to be extra thorough.

Thanks! And no, I did a bit of fan-art back on my first read through. Though since that was a good five/ six years ago when I was first getting into art, I don't look back at it with much fondness And yeah, I quite like drawing the more obscure characters. I find them to be a bit more human and relatable (though virtually all characters are in this series, which is one reason why I'm such a fan ), and also because they can sometimes be a bit more challenging. There's no big props or obvious things to identify them with, so you have to rely on gesture and expression, which are things I'm trying to improve at.

That's an idea I've been playing around with. Part of posting this sketch is as motivation to carry on and do some more. I have this vision of a line-up of dozens of characters, but whether I get there or not, well, we'll see!

@Apt: All in good time! ;D

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Great sketch! I love the little squirrel and rat. Your style would be perfect for a series of little comics set on Wu.

[Dolmen 2.0]

Coalhands, on 28 March 2017 - 10:24 AM, said:

@Dolmen 2.0: Yeah absolutely! My recollection of the series, especially the later books, is quite fuzzy, so a reread is really helping me piece everything together. I've also been following along with the Tor reread as I go to be extra thorough.

Thanks! And no, I did a bit of fan-art back on my first read through. Though since that was a good five/ six years ago when I was first getting into art, I don't look back at it with much fondness And yeah, I quite like drawing the more obscure characters. I find them to be a bit more human and relatable (though virtually all characters are in this series, which is one reason why I'm such a fan ), and also because they can sometimes be a bit more challenging. There's no big props or obvious things to identify them with, so you have to rely on gesture and expression, which are things I'm trying to improve at.

That's an idea I've been playing around with. Part of posting this sketch is as motivation to carry on and do some more. I have this vision of a line-up of dozens of characters, but whether I get there or not, well, we'll see!

@Apt: All in good time! ;D

Excellent! Looking forward to seeing more, theres a natural attitude to your lines that gets characterization across smoothly.

You'd make great animation artwork, kinda similar to Toraneko or tinyShiloh.

So where can we see more of your work?

[Abyss]

Very nice pic, you capture a lot of little detail about the character, his youth, height/skinny, beard, the animals. Would very much like to see what you do with some of the other Bonehunters.

[Coalhands]

@Whisperzzzzzzz: Thanks very much! Can't have Bottle without Y'Ghatan. And doing something like that would be a dream come true ^^

@Dolmen 2.0: Thanks again! This is a bit of a departure from what I normally do, so it's really nice to see that people like it. I don't post much online, apart from the occasional thing on Facebook, so there's nothing to share I'm afraid. Hopefully I can change that at some point. In the meantime, I sketched Seren Pedac between tasks;

edit@Abyss: Cheers! I'll see what I can do!

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•  seren_pedac.jpg (87.86K)
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This post has been edited by Coalhands: 28 March 2017 - 04:23 PM

[Coltaine -]

Good job Coalhands

Would you mind if we use your images on the wiki?

[Dolmen 2.0]

Nice take on Seren, the eyes look...weary? You definately have a knack for expression.

I'm thinking you work traditionaly? Just guessing from your user name and stuff. What do you draw/paint/charcoal when not drawing awesome malazan character sketches?

Studies? Or is it more hobby doodles?

[Avatar]

Nice CH! I like your style!!

[Coalhands]

@Coltaine - Thanks! And by all means

@ Dolmen 2.0: Cheers once again! I work as a concept artist for a living, so most of my time is spent in Photoshop. Though I go life drawing (charcoal) and sketch (pencil) a fair bit in my free time. Mostly just for practice so far - doing these sketches marks me trying to implement some of it I suppose! Just to avoid confusion - back in the day I went by the moniker max7773, so you might remember me by that name. I think we exchanged a few messages back then

@Avatar: Thank you!

[Dolmen 2.0]

Coalhands, on 28 March 2017 - 10:40 PM, said:

@Coltaine - Thanks! And by all means

@ Dolmen 2.0: Cheers once again! I work as a concept artist for a living, so most of my time is spent in Photoshop. Though I go life drawing (charcoal) and sketch (pencil) a fair bit in my free time. Mostly just for practice so far - doing these sketches marks me trying to implement some of it I suppose! Just to avoid confusion - back in the day I went by the moniker max7773, so you might remember me by that name. I think we exchanged a few messages back then

@Avatar: Thank you!

MAX7773!!!

Dude! Your stuff blew my mind. Your skills are amazing! I knew I was having a deja vu moment, something about your style... this is tons different from the stuff you posted up before. That Shigal assasin is one of the prints I have in my inspiration scrap book! Third page!

Great to have you back and doing stuff! Wow now I cant wait for you to get to rendering these characters out!

Edit: literally cant wait. Hows the work btw?

This post has been edited by Dolmen 2.0: 29 March 2017 - 09:54 AM

[Coltaine -]

Coalhands, on 28 March 2017 - 10:40 PM, said:

@Coltaine - Thanks! And by all means

@ Dolmen 2.0: Cheers once again! I work as a concept artist for a living, so most of my time is spent in Photoshop. Though I go life drawing (charcoal) and sketch (pencil) a fair bit in my free time. Mostly just for practice so far - doing these sketches marks me trying to implement some of it I suppose! Just to avoid confusion - back in the day I went by the moniker max7773, so you might remember me by that name. I think we exchanged a few messages back then

@Avatar: Thank you!

Thanks. Do you have a website we can link the images to? Alternatively we could use this thread.

[Coalhands]

@Dolmen 2.0: It's great to be back and thank you so much!! I've really missed this community - MBotF and art are two of the biggest things in my life, so this forum feels like my natural habitat I still need to catch up fully with what everyone has been up to (might spend lunch tomorrow having a deep dive) - it's so cool to see that you've been consistently creating awesome pieces of art over the years. Haha, the thought of rendering them all out make me feel faint. I'll probably keep these character things as sketches, and do the odd painted thing when I have the time. And work's good! Since graduating uni I've been working in video games, which is often a lot of fun. It also really makes you think about what you're drawing, since it's going to have to get modeled and animated xD

@Coltaine: 'Fraid I don't. This thread works for me

After a melancholy Seren, I thought it was time for someone a bit more gung-ho..

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[Coltaine -]

So, and finished. You now have your own category on the wiki: http://malazan.wikia...egory:Coalhands

Also a great Hellian

[Dolmen 2.0]

Love Hellian,

Thanks Colt, the Wikipage looks cool.

@CH: So the game industry grabbed you, thats great man! I try game art now and again. My brother models in 3D, its super involved so I'm learning by helping. I stress out on Zbrush and god help me when tackiling a rig. Do you get involved in the other departments or do they employ you purely for the 2D digital goodness?

[Coalhands]

Cheers Coltaine! 'Tis an honour.

@Dolmen: Ah that's great! What game art do you dabble in? Haha yeah so I imagine. Just looking across at the character artists' screens is bamboozling. What sort of things does your brother model? I just stick to Photoshop, though it's increasingly common for concept artists to be versed in 3D to some extent. I've just got a copy of ZBrush at work, so I'll be playing around with it. The idea is to create a blobby mass that can act as a reference for how things (especially organic things) look from various angles. If I manage that much I'll be satisfied

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Oh shit! Hey, Max! I totally didn't realize it was you! (It's Dan from FB/TheWhispy on Steam).

This style is so unlike the stuff I see you post on FB.

[Coalhands]

Haha hiya Dan! I thought the name and profile pic were familiar Yeah this is sort of an experiment - a challenge to represent a lot of characters, but make them all distinguishable. The more animated look just feels right for that, so features can be played up and exaggerated.

I've just read that scene with Beak, so he had to be next. Going back to the distinguishable bit - this is one of those where he could easily be mistaken for another character (Bottle), so I've tried to play up the childlike innocence and shyness. And also threw in a candle because to hell with subtlety Since he was in his thirties, maybe I should make him look a little older - difficult balance to strike, what with the whole naivete theme.

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•  beak.jpg (89.28K)
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